


Time's Lost Children

by MaryWisdom



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Bittersweet, Episode Fix-it: s01e15 Destiny, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2017-08-30
Packaged: 2018-12-21 02:40:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11934606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaryWisdom/pseuds/MaryWisdom
Summary: After Leonard Snart dies at the Oculus, Rip Hunter returns to his childhood home to pick up his team's younger selves and return them where they belong. But his mother has an unexpected surprise waiting for him...





	Time's Lost Children

Rip was still shellshocked when the Waverider touched down in front of the Refuge. Why had he not seen it before? His mission had been doomed from the start. What had he even been thinking?! He should never have gotten innocents involved! He should have returned them much sooner. 

Now, Leonard Snart was dead, Kendra was kidnapped, Carter was not dead anymore, but brainwashed, and both would soon be murdered by Savage for the 207th and 208th time respectively. And after everything he and his crew had been through, Miranda and Jonas were still going to die.

He had just raised his hand to knock at the door, when it swung open and Mary stood before him with a pained look on her face.

“What have you done, Michael?”

Rip’s heart sank even further than it already had. “Are the babies alright?”

Mary waved him off. “The babies are fine, but you better see for yourself!”

Rip could feel the blood rush through his ears as he followed Mary into the house and down the corridors. He thought he spotted a wisp of strawberry blonde hair quickly hiding behind a door, followed by excited whispering. His young self was still safe, at least.

Mary opened the door to the kitchen and showed him through it. Teenaged Sara and Mick were sitting at the table, both looking spooked. Mick was gently rocking the little newborn in the dark blanket - Snart. Rip felt a jab of pain in his chest when he saw the child, now that he knew what destiny had in store for him. Behind them stood a cot from which Rip could hear the other babies cooing.

“What did you do?” he asked the two teenagers immediately.

“Nothing!” Sara insisted.

Mick shook his head. “It wasn’t our fault! I swear!”

“They had nothing to do with it,” Mary assured him and went to retrieve two cookies from the jar on the fridge to calm her guests. But she took one look inside and immediately turned to glare at them instead. Mick was suddenly very interested in the grain of the table, and Sara stubbornly held Rip’s gaze, but the cookie crumble on her chin betrayed her. 

Rip turned to Mary. “What  _ did  _ happen?”

Mary put the cookie jar back and pointed at the cot. “Look.”

Rip did not know what to expect. Hesitantly, he peaked into the cot. There was Martin in his checkered blanket, quite large for a newborn; Jax in his green one, cute as a button and drooling all over Martin’s blanket; and… there was another baby wrapped in a dark blanket. Rip did a double take. He looked back over his shoulder where Mick was still rocking baby Leonard Snart. The children were identical, down to the adorable cheeks.

Rip blinked. “I don’t understand…”

“Neither do I,” Mary said, hands at her hips. “He just appeared out of thin air.”

“You think he’s a--?”

“A paradox? Yes, that’s my working theory.” Mary joined Rip and leaned down into the cot to pick up the second baby Snart. She gently stroke his cheek and the baby replied with a happy cooing noise. “He held himself, earlier, when you were all here. I realized it too late to stop him.”

Rip nodded, remembering the surprising image of Snart with a baby in his arms, a genuinely happy smile on his face. Again, he felt the pain in his chest. “Would that be enough?”

“I don’t think so,” Mick interjected. “Old me  _ talked  _ to me, and you don’t see two of me running around.”

Rip frowned at the boy. He would need more than one amnesia pill for that.

But Mary nodded. “He’s right. It only went on for a few minutes. Normally, that shouldn’t be enough for a paradox.” Her expression darkened when she turned back to Rip. “How did he die?”

There was a moment of silence as the meaning of her words sank in.

“Wait, he’s dead?!” Sara shouted, her eyes wide in shock. Beside her, Mick’s face turned pale and his grip on the baby in his arms tightened.

Rip swallowed around the lump in his throat. “How did you know?”

Mary looked pained. She had not wanted to be right. “I can see it on your face, Michael. He died and you blame yourself, so I doubt it was natural causes!”

Rip sighed. He sat down at the table and told Mary about the Oculus, about how the Time Masters had manipulated him, and how Leonard Snart had heroically given his life for free will in his partner’s stead. Sara and Mick listened with wide eyes and open mouths. When Rip was finished, Mick swallowed hard and looked down at the sleeping baby in his arms. 

“He died… for  _ me? _ ” he asked, incredulous.

“You two share a bond,” Rip said. “He loved you very much. I am so sorry.”

Mick swallowed again and his eyes started to glisten. Sara awkwardly put her hand on his shoulder.

Mary swayed back and forth with her own baby Snart and nodded slowly. “Exploding the Oculus must have released a lot of temporal energy. That, combined with him holding himself while he was here, in this of all places… yes, that would do the trick.”

Rip stared at the baby in her arms. “What shall we do about them? I cannot return them both to his parents.”

Mick’s head shot up. “You can’t take either of them back! He’ll die!” There were tears running down his cheeks. 

“Not putting him back would irreparably break time, including both your lives--” Rip tried to explain.

But Sara shot up from her seat and stood protectively in front of Mick and baby Snart. “He is a baby!” she shouted. “If you put him back you’re dooming him!”

Rip took a shaky breath. “I doomed him once already. And I’ll have to live with that for the rest of my life.”

“You can do right by one of them now at least,” Mary interrupted. Sara and Mick looked at her pleadingly, but she knew what had to be done. They could read it in her eyes.

Rip looked at her, thinking. “You want me to leave him here?”

Mary shrugged. “Do you have a better idea?” The baby boy in her arm shifted and she immediately started rocking him again.

Rip watched the child coo and thought of the brave man he would become. The man who had died as a result of Rip’s failures. “Would you really do that for me?”

“I’ll do it for him,” Mary said. “He might be the result of a paradox, but he is still a baby. And if anyone is equipped to raise a paradox-child, it is me.”

_ Raise him _ . A Leonard Snart that would grow up without the burdens of his childhood. Whatever that meant would have to be seen.

“Thank you, Mother.” Rip sighed and again looked from one baby Snart to the other. “Do you know which one is which?”

“I do,” Mary said. She paused, sadness in her eyes, as if she too was once more trying to think of any other way for this to go down, but she came up empty. Finally, she nodded at the baby in Mick’s arms. “That’s the one you brought here.”

“No!” Mick cried out, hugging the baby tightly. Little Leonard woke up and immediately started crying. “No,” Mick repeated and backed away from Rip. “No. No.  _ No! _ ”

“Mr Ror--Mick, please,” Rip pleaded with the boy. “He has a sister. A baby sister, who will need him to protect her.”

Mick shook his head stubbornly. “I can do that! I’ll protect her!”

Rip smiled sadly. “Oh, you will. But you won’t know her without Leonard Snart in your timeline.” Mick let out a shaky breath. His eyes were desperate, but Rip’s words were convincing. “So, please, Mick,” Rip said calmly. “Give me the baby.”

Mick hesitated. He was not actively trying to flee anymore, but he also did not look like he was ready to let go of baby Snart.

“Can he hold him until you give him back to his parents?” Sara asked, and Mick looked at her thankfully. “We need time to say goodbye.”

Rip sighed and nodded. “Yes. We can do that. But I have to return him eventually.”

* * *

 

Mary watched from her porch as the Waverider took off with the three babies and the two teenagers on board. She figured it would still be a fight, but her Michael could be very convincing. Though, if she was right, Sara and Mick would take the amnesia pills willingly - ignorance was bliss after all. 

The baby stirred in her arms. She hugged the little boy in the dark blanket and whispered soothingly to him.

“I’ll take good care of you, Leonard. I’ll take you back to the start, so you’ll blend in with my other children. Those evil Time Masters may be gone now, but one can never be too careful. Don’t worry, dear. I won’t let anything hurt you. You’re safe here, Leonard. You’re safe.”


End file.
